


Old Friends

by biqua



Series: Complex [4]
Category: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-22 21:51:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7455186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biqua/pseuds/biqua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When an old friend from the Jedi Academy asks Nahin for a favor, she's more than happy to agree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Lailie, Lu’ay, and Lucianu belong to a friend. (Waves at sichelle) I’ve only stolen them for my own purposes, with her complete permission. Nahin and Badri are mine.

“Badri!”

Nahin flagged down the officer who had just entered the station. He smiled—she had to tamp down some rather strong emotions—and walked towards her.

“Master Nahin,” he greeted. “Glad to see your op went well.”

The short distance between them was agonizing. She wanted to close it, but she knew he was right—she had already been too informal in her greeting, and the Balmorra Spaceport was a public place. She couldn’t risk further impropriety here. She settled for a warm smile. “You’re here earlier than I expected from your message.”

He shrugged. “Things went… faster than I expected. I hope that isn’t a problem?”

 _He was joking_. Stars, he was such a tease. And damn him, he knew it. It was taking all her will not to fall against him. Maybe she could stage a fall? “Of course not. I just have one more meeting before I leave. They should be here soon,” Nahin said.

“Jedi business?” Badri asked.

“More or less. A friend from the academy asked me for a favor, and—there she is!” Badri turned towards the station entrance as well, but Nahin shook her head. “Sorry, she just got off the dropship. She should be here shortly.”

Badri sighed. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to this Force stuff.”

Laughing, Nahin admitted, “Most people don’t.” She caught sight of movement in the entrance, and waved around Badri to the small group that had just entered. “Lailie! Over here!”

The leader of the group waved back, a tall woman in light blue robes. Two others followed on her heel.

“Lailie…?”

Badri turned around again to see the group, and a sudden wave of emotion rippled back and forth between several people. It wasn’t enough to shake Nahin, but it was unexpected. She didn’t bother to investigate further through the Force, as she knew instinctively that it would be clear soon enough.

“Do you know each other?” Nahin asked, turning from Lailie to Badri.

Badri sounded almost dazed. “I used to babysit them as kids,” he said.

“Badri?” Lailie asked at almost the same moment.

“HOLY SHIT!” one of Lailie’s companions exclaimed. “Badri! It’s been years! Holy shit!”

“Uh, yeah,” Badri said, somewhat uncomfortably. He ran a hand through his hair. “Ten, twelve years now?”

“How have you been? You’re in the military now? That’s so cool!” he continued, barely pausing for breath.

Lailie put a hand on his shoulder, and he stopped. “Nahin, this is my brother, Lu’ay. He’s not the one I called you about, just a run-of-the-mill idiot.”

“Nice to meet you, Lu’ay,” Nahin said. “Lailie’s mentioned you.” Well, mentioned wasn’t entirely accurate—she had only ever spoken of Lu’ay to Nahin shortly after her arrival at the Jedi Academy, when Nahin had accidentally been drawn into Lailie’s nightmare—but she didn’t need to explain that to anyone here.

“Lu, this is my friend Nahin,” Lailie introduced.

“Hey,” Lu’ay said, then quickly turned back to Badri.

“Let’s give them a minute,” Nahin said to Lailie. She nearly recanted at Badri’s brief twitch of anxiety, but he could handle himself. Nodding at the last member of Lailie’s party, she prompted, “And this is…?”

“This is who I called you about,” Lailie said. Her volume dropped as she continued, “He claims to want to defect.”

Nahin raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a name?”

“Lucianu, Master Jedi,” he said quietly. Nahin felt a reflexive annoyance rise—oh, so she hadn’t yet gotten over Badri’s idiocy in that instance—and stamped it down quickly. That had nothing to do with this Sith—this ex-Sith? He was Zabrak, tall—taller than Lailie, not quite as tall as Badri, but he was wider in the shoulders than the soldier. It took quite a group of people for Nahin to feel short, but Lailie and even Lu’ay had a few centimeters on her. 

“Please, my name is Nahin,” she insisted. “This will only take a few moments, if you don’t mind.” She waited for his approval, but it seemed oddly hesitant in coming. In fact, he seemed rather clueless…

“…Lailie?” Nahin asked. “Does he know?”

Lailie shook her head. “I didn’t want to risk telling a spy.”

Nahin felt a sudden stab of worry from Lucianu, and she sighed. “I’m going to read your emotions, just to ascertain that you’re telling the truth about your motives. It shouldn’t cause you any harm, and I won’t look for personal secrets, but anything I do find out will be kept secret, I promise. If what you’ve told Lailie is true, than you have nothing to fear, but I won’t begin without your consent.”  

Lucianu nodded. Nahin placed a hand on his forearm—it wasn’t actually necessary, but it would make it easier for her, and served as a good cue for those watching—and Lucianu himself. She closed her eyes, limiting her distractions, and shut her mind to everyone else, placing all her focus on the man in front of her. She let her mind free, flowing all her power through the Force.

The first thing she sensed was fear. It was nearly overwhelming, and she had the urge to move her hand. She pushed deeper, feeling beyond the surface of his mind. There was a twinge of guilt, self-incrimination—a broken promise. That was what had brought him here…? No, he had—

“Oh,” Nahin said softly.

It was Haylar, the young Sith who had defected just more than a week ago. Lucianu had made a promise to her, and her hasty defection had broken it. Together. They were planning to leave together.

And beneath that, there was more fear, but of a different sort. Fear of his own hatred, fear of what the Empire had wanted to craft him into. He had been willing to follow and play by the rules to gain power, to protect himself, but the more power he acquired, the worse he felt about it. He couldn’t do it anymore. He wouldn’t.

Nahin exhaled. He was true.

“Thank you, Lucianu,” she said, and took her hand off his arm. “He is telling the truth,” she said aloud, turning back to Lailie.

“Good,” Lailie said. She nodded. “I’m glad.”

“I apologize if this is overstepping,” Nahin said to Lucianu, “but I thought you might want to know—Haylar is doing well.”

Lucianu’s eyes lit up, losing the nervous look for the first time. “She is?” he asked.

“Yes, she’s been with the Jedi for about a week now,” Nahin replied. “If you like, we could probably arrange for you two to see each other.”

“That would be welcome, but I did hear from her once, so I knew she made it,” Lucianu said.

“Good,” Nahin said. “That’s all I need from you, then. Consider yourself a defector, and welcome to the Republic.” She smiled, and he gave a faint smile back. “At the very least, we have some very cu—competent officers.” Nahin caught her word substitution at the last second, replacing _cute_ with _competent_ , but both were true. One just aroused less suspicion, even in front of Lailie, but especially in front of the newly defected Sith.

“That’s right, I can’t believe you know Badri,” Lailie said with some amazement. “I hadn’t even realized he had gone into the military. I almost didn’t recognize him with the cybernetics. Did he get them for combat?”

Nahin felt herself freeze, instinctively checking Badri’s reaction—but he hadn’t heard, thank goodness. Lu’ay was holding his attention captive, and while worn down, he was fine. “No,” she answered softly. “They’re not… augments.”

“Oh, I didn’t—” Lailie started.

“It’s okay,” Nahin interrupted. “But it’s a sensitive subject for him, for… a couple reasons.”

“Understood,” Lailie said. “I won’t bring it up again. Lu!” she shouted, getting her brother’s attention. “Are you done harassing the poor guy?”

Badri laughed. He seemed to have completely relaxed from earlier, and had been chatting pleasantly with Lu’ay. “Lu’s not harassing me, we’re just catching up.”

“Yeah!” Lu’ay agreed. “C’mon, Lai! Did you know his friend was the one who finally caught Skavak?”

“Assuming Bee wasn’t exaggerating, which she does pretty often,” Badri qualified.

“That’s great, but we have to get going,” Lailie said. She put an arm around her brother, almost physically dragging him away. “I’m sure Badri has places to be as well.”

“We’ll have to all catch up some time,” Badri said. “I’m sure you have some stories about Nahin, Lailie.”

Nahin gently slapped his arm. “And I bet they have even better stories about you!” she countered.

“I want to hear all about Lailie at the academy—” Lu’ay said.

“Going,” Lailie interrupted, pulling him away. “Now.”

“I’ll call you to set something up?” Nahin suggested to Lailie.

“Yes,” Lailie said tersely. “I’ll be around.”

“Good luck, Lucianu!” wished Nahin.

“Thank you,” Lucianu said.

The three left for their own hangar, leaving Badri and Nahin in the receiving area.

“That was a surprise,” Badri remarked.

“If I had known you and Lailie had history…” Nahin started.

Badri shook his head, laughing lightly. “Only barely. I babysat for them for about a year before, well, before we found out Lailie was Force-sensitive. That was not something I was equipped to handle as a fifteen-year-old.”

“What happened?” Nahin asked, concerned. Force sensitivity wasn’t always found out in a pleasant or easy way.

“Oh nothing too bad, honestly,” Badri reassured her. “Lu said something stupid and Lailie knocked him against a wall—without touching him, which freaked all of us out. As I said earlier, not used to the Force stuff.”

“And children even less so,” Nahin agreed.

“Well then, Master Nahin,” Badri said with a smirk, “are you ready to head to your ship?”

Nahin groaned audibly. “Oh stars, you have no idea. I can’t wait to get you into a private room.”

Badri raised his eyebrows. “So forward! Someone might think you had more on your mind than a strategy meeting.”

“We wouldn’t want that,” Nahin said impatiently, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the hangar. As pleased as she was to see him enjoying the company of her friend, there were times when she selfishly wanted him all her herself.


End file.
